Consultant(s) – Zimbabwe 2021 Open Budget Survey (OBS)

 

JOB DESCRIPTION

A social and economic justice organisation based in Harare, is seeking qualified research consultant(s) to conduct the Zimbabwe 2021 Open Budget Survey (OBS). An OBS is an independent, comparative and fact-based research instrument that uses internationally accepted criteria to assess public access to central government budget information. It assesses formal opportunities for the public to participate in the national budget process and the role of budget oversight institutions such as Parliament and the Office of the Auditor General in the process. The OBS measures public access to information on how the government raises and spends public resources. Thus, it assesses the online availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of key budget documents.

The Zimbabwe OBS which is conducted annually since 2019, is a local version of the global research and advocacy initiative aimed at influencing transparency and accountability in the national and municipal authorities budget processes. These annual datasets are aimed at informing advocacy initiatives that will contribute to more openness in National and Municipal budgeting processes by 2023. As such the generated knowledge from the 2021 survey will be used to keep track of the gaps identified in the 2019 and 2020 Zimbabwe Open Budget Survey reports produced by the organisation. The 2021 report should therefore enable a year-to-year analysis of the trends in civic participation and openness in the budget formulation processes in Zimbabwe over the past two years using 2019 as a baseline.

The value of the Open Budget Survey is its contribution to the attainment of needs-based budget processes that are inclusive and people-centred in Zimbabwe. Therefore, the information obtained through the 2021 OBS will inform both the government, oversight institutions and civil society towards: Increased and genuine public consultations in national budget processes; Improved fiscal transparency and accountability based on the national budget as a policy tool; Holding public officials accountable on allocation and use of public resources; and Gender-Responsive Budgeting. In addition, the findings of the 2021 OBS will be used to inform the organisation’s development of civic education tools for promoting budget literacy at the community level for a better understanding of the budget-making, budget allocation, and budget implementation processes to allow for increased citizen involvement and participation.

Purpose

The purpose of the Zimbabwe 2021 Open Budget Survey is to assess the openness and inclusivity of the budget processes at both national and local government level. This refers to the entire budget cycle that is inclusive of the budget making process, budget funding, budget expenditure, budget reporting and audit reporting. The survey also assesses opportunities that the government provides to civil society and individual citizens to engage in decisions about how public resources are raised and spent.

Objectives

The Open Budget Survey should satisfy the following objectives:

• To gather opinions and perceptions regards national and local government budget
  processes.
• To generate knowledge for promoting fiscal transparency and accountability;
• To promote needs-based budget processes that are inclusive and people centered.
• To contribute towards gender responsive budgeting through informed research.

Roles and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for:

• Preparation of a work plan, methodology and present an inception report.
• Data collection based on approved tools.
• Submitting the draft and final report in accordance with the requirements and timeframes of the Terms of References.
• Presenting the Report to the organisation and any other platform as communicated by the organisation.

Deliverables

The consultant (s) MUST conduct scientific research and produce a credible Open Budget Survey 2021 Report that will be published by the organisation.

Time Frame

The timeline for the assignment is 28 days from the date of awarding of contract.

Terms of Payment

Payments will be done according to agreed terms and budget with the successful applicants.

Reporting

The consultant(s) will work with the Program Manager for this assignment.